they say it is just like drowning
letting your lungs fill up with
dirty water
having the audacity to gasp for breath they're making hospitals in
when there is not enough air parking garages
here they're turning ice rinks
for everyone into morgues
they say it is like drowning
and all at once
You are the God of Noah
again they say
pouring living water little bits of RNA can live on surfaces
on the busy world for up to 17 days
don't touch
hold your breath
shh
quiet
there isn't room to save you all
climb on two by two that's where they found it
there's just enough space on a ship
to save a few they say ships
hang on tight are incubators of all kinds of life
cling to life
the world will be made clean and new
was a line from a Sunday school lesson
I was supposed to teach once they say
line up the wooden bears, and monkeys, the dolphins
and snakes play in the canals
fit them into the wooden ship the water is so clear
just so now
stay inside while it rains they say it could come in three waves
hold back the pigeon
the sin that polluted the earth will be
gone the animals coming back
some was a hoax
just some the stories with the elephants
had to be sacrificed and the swans
plunged beneath the surf are what we tell ourselves to make
meaning as we grieve
just some lungs will fill
suddenly cloudy white in the x-rays
just some it happens so fast
see?
see?
the earth is breathing the air is clearer now
again! over Wuhan, over New York City
the world is being made clean and new
I don't care
we never learn
I hate this baptism
was a lie I would not speak he says
to the wide-eyed children fill the churches on Easter,
in the circle on Sunday it's a beautiful day
when we finally test the waters they say
when we finally release the rate of infection
the pigeon and pray will be exponential
I do not know if I will be there will depend on how well
or not we wait, how well
we listen
I do not know if I will look,
sweaty and shaken
for a branch
a sign
that the waters have subsided
that the air large droplets containing the virus
is safe to breathe again can travel up to six feet
e,merge from the ship on shaky legs stand back
or if I will already be lost some
beneath the waves just some
I only know that
any sign of this cruel covenant
emerging bright and clear
over the spreading calm
will always be
accompanied by the bones
(washed clean and new)
of those who did not have the luxury they say the elderly
to fill their lungs would love to sacrifice themselves
let these bones cry out
the world is being washed for the economy
clean to rise again
and new
is not a good enough story I will fight it with my last, gasping breath
you don't get to superimpose anything not made of love
a rainbow on a is a lie
tragedy
